Lucky Luiz escapes justice from wonky-eyed Wirrall whistleblower: Newcastle 0-3 Chelsea

Posted on December 4th, 2011 | 29 Comments |

Mike Dean - Referee?
It's three fingers Mike.
Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle.
Date: Saturday 3rd Dec, 2011.
Kick-off: 12.45pm.
Referee: Mike Dean.

Newcastle made just one change to the side that drew 1-1 at Old Trafford last weekend, with the suspended Jonas Gutierrez replaced by Peter Lovenkrands. For the 13th time this season, Newcastle United were able to field the same defence that has conceded the joint lowest total of goals so far in the Premier League (12).

Frank Lampard returned to the Chelsea midfield, in place of Raul Meireles, who dropped to the bench. This was the Blues only change, with striker Fernando Torres again having to settle for a place on the bench. Danger man Sturridge was chosen to play wide right with Drogba and Mata completing the front three.

The players took to the field in front of a full house at SJP and joined in with the crowd of 52,305 for a rousing minute of applause for Gary Speed. Newcastle coach John Carver was clearly upset as he had worked with Gary as recently as last season when they were at Sheffield United together. Incidentally Speed scored his first goal for Newcastle in this corresponding fixture in 1998 which ended in a 3-1 defeat of Chelsea.

Both teams started brightly, exchanging some early possession but before the fans had time to settle in their seats. Cabaye pushed a lovely through ball towards Ba in a central position, who was able to reach the ball before Luiz and just as he turned towards goal, the defender tangled with the forward, bringing him down just a yard outside the box. No penalty but as the last man he surely had to go, but in his wisdom, referee Mike Dean gave him a yellow card instead. As strong a case for sending off as you will ever see and a huge let off for the Blues. Ryan Taylor took the resulting free kick but slammed it into the wall. It was a bizarre decision from the wonky-eyed Wirral whistleblower because it either wasn’t a foul at all or it was a red card and a yellow card just wasn’t an option.

Minutes later there was more dubious defending from Luiz as he attempted to turn and was robbed by Ba, but Terry got back to recover the situation. Chelsea were riding their luck as Newcastle pressed for an early goal.

On the 11th minute Newcastle fans began to sing Gary Speed’s name as a mark of respect for our former No. 11.

Although Chelsea were sloppy at the back they were threatening whenever Sturridge got the ball on the right and ran at the Newcastle defence in particular at Ryan Taylor.. Poor. Taylor was seeing little of the ball and had no Jonas to help him out either. Surely Lovenkrands selection on the left was a Pardew “senior moment”?

In the 12th minute, on one of his darting runs, Daniel Sturridge burst into the penalty area and is clipped, surprisingly by Cabaye, as Raylor was elsewhere. So up stepped Lampard to take the penalty only for Tim Krul (Superkeeper) to deny him with a great save down low to his left which he pushed onto the post. Admittedly it wasn’t the greatest penalty ever taken but Tim did well for a tall man to get down low so quickly.

Minutes later the impressive Sturridge again cuts inside and fires a 20-yard shot just wide of Krul’s post, and the danger signs are there for all to see. During a period of sustained pressure from Chelsea, Sturridge hit a post and had two shots saved by Krul along with another from Mata.

However in the 23rd minute Newcastle came back with a great chance to take the lead. This was when Peter Lovenkrands out on the left made space for a cross, and when it arrived in the middle, Demba Ba somehow managed to flick the ball towards gaol from only yards out. Unfortunately Cech, rather like Krul’s save at Old Trafford last week, just managed to tip the shot over as it headed straight for him. A couple of feet either side and we’d be one up.

Three minutes later the second piece of bad luck struck the Toon as Captain Colocinni was forced to retire from the match with what appeared to be a thigh injury. As they say, bad luck often comes in three’s and sure enough when Perch was brought on as a straight replacement for the Argentine defender, it was then we all knew it just wasn’t going to be our day!

Shortly afterwards Mata managed to get past Simpson on the left and produced a lovely inswinging centre which Drogba looked favourite to knock into the net, but luckily for us he hesitated and Ryan Taylor managed to sweep the ball almost off Drogba’s toes for a corner.

Then it was United’s turn to hit the woodwork, as Demba Ba got above David Luiz to head Danny Guthrie’s cross onto the post but then John Terry smacked the loose ball right into Luiz and can only watch as it floats up and inches wide. That would have rivalled the Mancs goal at Old Trafford last week which eventually hit Hernadez before rolling over the line. Some go your way and some dont…

Then there was another blow for the Toon as Ivanovic swung over an innocuous ball from the right wing, which went out for a throw in over on the other side of the pitch near the goal line. Obertan went to take the throw in but was told by the referee that the ball was Chelsea’s. A quick throw by Ashley Cole found Juan Mata who eluded the slower Cabaye and the slippery Spaniard then lofted over a lovely little cross for Didier Drogba to power in a header at the near post beating Perch to the ball .

37th minute Newcastle 0 – Chelsea 1.

At that point Newcastle looked ragged in defence and confidence seemed to be draining away from the players. Two minutes later Frank Lampard played one lovely pass which cut open what was left of the Newcastle defence and Daniel Sturridge was in on goal. Once again though his low shot was well saved by Tim Krul who has to be the best keeper in the Premier League on current form?

The half ended with both teams showing their attacking flair, but Newcastle had to be concerned at the way the defence gave Sturridge the freedom of the park.

HALF-TIME: Newcastle 0-1 Chelsea.

The second half did not start the way we hoped as HBA was substituted at half time, replaced by the enigmatic Shola Ameobi. Admittedly HBA wasn’t getting much of the ball, but surely Pardew has to think about where he plays him in future as this No 10 role just doesn’t seem to do it for him!

First chance of the second half went to Chelsea as a Cole cross eluded Danny Simpson and was chested down at the back post by Didier Drogba, but the striker thrashed his shot wildly wide from no more than five yards out. But then came a let off for the Blues as Didier Drogba inadvertently headed the ball against his own crossbar it hits the underside but Chelsea managed to get it clear to Sturridge who raced down the right before finding Ramires, but the midfielder was denied by yet another fine save from Tim Krul. Real end to end stuff.

On the hour mark, Lampard was taken off and subbed with Raul Meireles, which suggested that AVB was happy to take the 1-0. Just afterwards an excellent and brave piece of defending from Ashley Cole denied Newcastle a decent chance. Demba Ba swivelled to try and volley a loose ball but Cole threw himself in the way and nicked the ball.

On 70 minutes with the game still too close to call, Pardew replaced the relatively ineffective Lovenkrands with Sammy Ameobi. Cue Crowd “There’s only two Ameobi’s!”

Sammy got into the action pretty quickly, and before long was denied a first Premier League goal by John Terry on the line as Petr Cech could only tip a cross away under pressure from Demba Ba and Sammy saw his well struck volley cleared by the captain.

The Newcastle defence looked as though they were tiring and were not helped any by the introduction of Torres with ten minutes left in the game. However a moment of brilliance almost saw Newcastle draw level when Shola Ameobi (yes that’s right brilliance and Ameobi used in the same sentence) managed to control a hopeful ball from Danny Simpson. He then turned his man and thumped a rising 20 yard effort which beat Cech but smacked against the crossbar.

If Newcastle were unlucky, Sturridge should have killed the contest six minutes from the end when Raul Meireles and Salomon Kalou left him with only Krul to beat. Once again the goalkeeper stood up to him and saved yet again. It was another Tim Krul MOTM performance from a Newcastle point of view. Sadly though it was all to no avail as two minutes later, Fernando Torres burst through a vacant Newcastle defence. While the chance looked to have gone when he cut inside, he had the presence of mind to release the ball to Salomon Kalou, whose shot was partially saved by Krul. However the Dutchman couldn’t prevent the ball from spinning agonisingly away from him and past Ryan Taylor into the back of the net.

88 minute Newcastle 0 – Chelsea 2.

Another Sturridge chance went wide before he finally got himself on the scoresheet as the Newcastle backline was stretched once again, allowing Sturridge to cut in from the right before drilling in a low shot from almost the central point. Arguably Sturridge deserved his goal for all his efforts, however he wont come up against too many keepers in TK’s class during the rest of this season.

91st minute Newcastle 0 – Chelsea 3.

There was just enough time for Raylor and John Terry to pick up yellow cards before the final whistle stopped the misery. That third goal was just the final nail in NUFC’s coffin because it made the final scoreline look as though we’d been soundly beaten, which was far from the truth.

The stats tell another story.

Possession: Newcastle United 49% – 51% Chelsea.
Attempts on target: Newcastle United 9 – Chelsea 13.
Shots off target: Newcastle United 7 – Chelsea 8.

More worrying perhaps than the scoreline is the fact that we lost both central defenders to injury. Steven Taylor has ruptured his achilles while Coloccini has picked up a thigh injury, meaning both are major doubts for next weekend’s trip to Norwich.

Could it get much worse?

Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (James Perch 28), Ryan Taylor, Peter Lovenkrands (Sammy Ameobi 71), Danny Guthrie, Yohan Cabaye, Gabriel Obertan, Hatem Ben Arfa (Shola Ameobi (half time), Demba Ba.

Subs: Steve Harper, Davide Santon, James Perch, Dan Gosling, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Davud Luiz, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Ranbo Ramires, Oriol Romeu, Frank Lampard (Raul Meireles 61), Daniel Sturridge, Didier Drogba (Fernando Torres 79), Juan Mata (Salomon Kalou 74).

Subs: Ross Turnbull (G), Fernando Torres, Florent Malouda, Raul Meireles, Bosingwa, Solomon Kalou, Plastic Bertrand.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).

Goals: Didier Drogba (38), Solomon Kalou (89), Daniel Sturridge (90+3)).

Yellow cards: daniel Sturridge (85), Danny Simpson (87), Ryan Taylor (90+4), John Terry (90+4).

Red Cards: None.

Extended match highlights and post match interviews.

NUFCBlog Author: AndyMac AndyMac has written 13 articles on this blog.

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29 Responses

  1. a yellow card was an “option”. if dean felt that ba didn’t have the ball under control or it wouldn’t have resulted in a clear goalscoring opportunity then it would merely be a yellow. you could certainly argue both those points & dean in general actually had an excellent game. which is unlike him.

    you could add in that ba was fractionally offside when the ball was played & that he blatantly dived as well…something he did repeatedly throughout the match…& justice was pretty much done.

  2. didn’t u see the ball got off the head of taylor even he admitted it touched him …lol sorry for u man but ur team is going to make the 7 or 8 at best this season ..

  3. Very good analysis Worky.

    BTW, Saylor is out for the season. It’s now down to Perch and/or Kadar whilst we wait for Williamson which could be January as he must be very rusty having been laid up for so long.

    I was annoyed at the ref but being philosophical it was a bit of quid pro quo with the officials giving us a penalty at ManU when it clearly wasn’t.

    Raylor had a terrible game probably made much worse by the loss of Jonas and facing the excellent Sturridge who was the best player on the park. Mata was pretty good too. The rest of Chelsea were more than evenly matched by us. Obertan had a poor match, perhaps because he faced Cole.

    On a more positive note, I thought Guthrie was excellent again. If he continues like this he will undoubtedly attract the attention of other premiership clubs. Ba was also excellent and IMO far better than Carroll. Krul was as usual in top form. Simpson was also good as was Shola. I’m having doubts about Ben Arfa (cries of heresy I hear). But perhaps his injury has taken more out of him than we thought. We looked so much better in the second half until Saylor got injured and immobile. I’m sure there wouldn’t have been a second goal if Saylor hadn’t been injured, marooned and stationary further up the field.

    If Colo remains injured I fear the worst. His overall qualities far outshine his ability as a defender. I think Perch will be OK alongside Colo but without Colo we are very vulnerable.

    Not looking forward to the next few games which a week ago looked very winnable. Fingers crossed for Colo.

  4. Hi lads

    Can someone please tell me what we are going to do without S Taylor and Coloccini? Perch is pretty useless when he plays and he is particularly useless at CB. We got mauled down the left hand side yesterday; Pardew must face the fact that R Taylor is the weakest link in our defense.

    Anyways, any guesses on our back four for the next few weeks?

    I would think that Santon will be playing at LB and Raylor is going to move into CB?

  5. The fact that Chelsea fans cant even accept that they were lucky makes this a little hilarious to go with the frustration of watching that game. It was a goal scoring oportunity denied, and even your own manager accepts that you were lucky, but keep telling yourself those sweet little lies if it makes you feel better (And people call our fans deluded?… Jeez)

    And to the Chelsea fan pointing out that we will finish 7-8 this season… Yah, most likely we will, and that would make NUFC fans happy with the season. But be carefull with your gloating, because from what i have seen of chelsea this season those roles might be reversed in the future… Who knows?

    Regarding Mike Dean… Is it me or does that guy usually give allot of bad decisions in our games?

  6. Just mentioned on R5 that Dean admitted to Pardew after the game that he should have sent Luiz off !

    So can we have the three points then ? :)

  7. “Cabaye pushed a lovely through ball towards Ba in a central position, who was able to reach the ball before Luiz and just as he turned towards goal, the defender tangled with the forward, bringing him down just a yard outside the box”

    Ooops apologies to Lovenkrands :(

  8. Kamar says:

    December 4, 2011 at 8:38 am

    “Very good analysis Worky.”

    Aye it was, but it was written by AndyMac Kamar. I posted it, but I forgot to change the writer’s name around.

  9. This match report was written by AndyMac, not by myself as it said at the top until recently.

    Really sorry about that Andy. It’s the first time I’ve ever forgotten to change the names around, but it was early morning by I fininshed formatting it all, I was knacked and just forgot to change it.

    My apologies Andy. It’s a really great match report. I’ve changed it ’round now.

  10. valle says:

    December 4, 2011 at 9:07 am

    “Regarding Mike Dean… Is it me or does that guy usually give allot of bad decisions in our games?”

    Stoke was the last game he refereed for us us valle.

  11. valle says:

    December 4, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    “Worky… Ok, I might be wrong then”

    You might be right too valle, I can’t remember TBH. The ones he’s done for us this season though have been Stoke and yesterday’s one against Chelsea. But we seem to have had a good ride from most refs this season until yesterday, which has been change form the usual!

  12. It’s my impression, the decission was based on whether Ba was in possession of the ball?
    There lies the problem, how do you define possession?
    The fact is Ba had Luiz clearly beaten, Luiz was the last defender who then deliberately brought him down.
    The rest is wouldda, couldda, shouldda ?
    So what defines possession?
    Obviously like many rules, an arbitrary decission left to the instant judgement of the officials.
    Not unlike the penalty awarded to us at Old Trafford.
    Should this situation continue?
    When in a matter of seconds we can review via video and either verify the call or reverse it.
    What i’m “not” saying is referee the game via video, taking the human factor out of the game.
    But simply in cases of game changing decissions (goals, penalties, red cards etc. use the available technology.
    The time involved would be no greater than the usual amount spent in useless argument and ill will created over the incident.
    The FA are not unlike some of our reactionary fans, embedded in the past, whereas most other professional sports, have embraced the available technology, with no negative effects, the FA is still thinking about it.
    For Chr***sakes lets bring the game into this millenium and stop making it the laughing stock of the media.

  13. Chuck… They went over the rules in the EPL studio before the sunderland game and they all agreed that it was quite simple, he was denied a clear goalscoring oportunity. Dean himself have apologized and both managers agree that it should have been red, the only people who cant get it through their skulls are chelsea fans desperate to cling onto their hopes that they are still one of the EPL’s mightiest clubs… Fact is that they are below teams such as city and spurs these days though, and i wouldnt even bet on them finishing 4th after the beating they got against arsenal.

  14. chuck says:

    December 4, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    “The FA are not unlike some of our reactionary fans, embedded in the past”

    Chuck, I think you need to direct your ire more towards Sepp Blatter and his cronies at FIFA more than the FA and “reactionary fans, embedded in the past”. I think that most of the fans would welcome technology, within reason as you suggest.

    The FA seem to be a bit more progressive about it than FIFA too. General secretary of the FA, Alex Horne, has talked about the possibilty of introducing goal line technolology to the Premiership next season at least anyway…

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15866363.stm

  15. The ref has seen the replay and apologised, saying he was wrong and Luiz should have been sent off.

    Small consolation, but I’m still wondering where the linesman was in all this??

  16. Off to Norwich next week but a bit nervous now with our injuries will settle for a draw now.If Perch plays he was tortured by simieon jackson in a pre- season friendly not so long back at Norwich so it could be a long 90 minutes.Still great ale houses there so it should still be a decent week-end.

  17. Workey

    Sure i’m aware of the fact FIFA are the body responsible for any rule changes, like the crazy ruling on offside, introduced not that long ago.
    Which was a step backward, due to making it an arbitrary call, instead of an obvious one.
    FIFA is not really interested in rule changes, their focus is directed at making money, like what you can sell at the world cup, which FIFA gets it’s cut from or you dont sell it.
    The present scandalous situation taking place in Brasil, where they are at odds with the government there, in various disputes concerning licensing of goods and services.
    My point about the English FA is they are another hide bound organization with the exact same interests, making money and not rocking the boat.
    Well i got news for them, any attempted introduction by either FIFA or EUAFA of any sets of new rules and regulations, that are contrary to the interests of the mostly oligarchal group of owners of Europes large clubs, could very well result in their exit from both organizations.
    The setting up of a rival organization/s, Super league/s if you will, who are capeable of cornering the TV market and dumping the present crooked (Blatter run) moribund organization that is FIFA.
    Which by the way will also save them money and allow them to introduce a different way of doing business.
    Football or Association Football to distinguish it from all other sports named football, has become a major worldwide moneymaker, dwarfing most other proffessional sports by both crowd attendance and tv viewing.
    Why else are so many US interests and Middle East oil states involved, certainly not because they are fans of the game.
    Same applies to NUFC, each club has become an adjunct to the Airlines, Insurance, Banking and other interests, with a worldwide audience to advertise their wares too.
    Long gone are the days of local regionalism and competition, though not everyone has become aware of the fact, we are a pale reminder of what once was, just an adjunct to a corporation that is used on a weekly basis as an advertising board.
    Ah well !

  18. chuck,

    can’t argue with any of that mate.

    “It’s a consumer society, so consume, or be consumed, consummately, with consummate ease!”

    A bitter indictment of life on earth.

  19. Marveaux, Saylor, Best, Tiote, Colocinni, there goest the heart and soul of the side, too injury i might add.
    We are looking at Perch, Lovenkrands, Raylor, Guthrie, Williamson and perhaps the untried Santon, but only if he gets Pardews blessing.
    There is also talk of selling Krul to Spurs.
    As Pardew has admitted there are no guarrantees that no one would be sold during the upcoming window.
    Appatently Villa are interested in a much improved Guthrie, presently doing a hell of a job filling in for Tiote.
    Well we have all heard the stories about Tiote going ?
    AND clubs would have to be blind to not have noticed what a player Cabaye is ?
    Seems BSA is interested and would like to sign Simpson, if “the deadly duo” dont give the kid a raise, that reflects his improved abilities.
    To sell Krul would be a major blunder, it’s the same kid who has kept us in so many games, who may in fact be one of the leagues best, with much more to come, but what can i say?
    To sell any of those mentioned would also be a major blunder, but it’s up to the retailers, younger, better and cheaper.
    What we really need are some defensive additions, which i have advocated in just about every blog, but then whadda i know ?

  20. Chuck – “Perch, Lovenkrands, Raylor, Guthrie, Williamson and perhaps the untried Santon” – except for Guthrie, that is a championship line up. We have dropped 2 places to 6th which will be 7th in Liverpool win – which is probably realisic for our depth of quality.
    But our solid defence is gone – players may be sold – some will be off the the africas cup – without some key investments we will be in the bottom half by easter and lucky to improve on last year’s 11th.
    Is it all worth the bother?

  21. All the bother ?
    Hey we have fans who thnk we are a top six side and are expecting european competition.
    Look the side has played hard, especially in defence, but with such a small squad , it’s enevitable that injuries would play a big role, especially while playing the same lineup week after week.
    Is this a judgement of our manager, leave that for you guys ?
    Fact is most top clubs play horses for courses, cup games european games etc.
    Even those who are not involved, seldom play the same side week after week.
    So what am i saying ?
    We have a small squad, with little quality in depth, except in midfield, but thats where most of our injuries are.
    And now that we have additional injuries in the back four, we are in deep shit.
    So what’s it all about, simple, the unwillingless of our owner to provide a squad that can cope with injuries, by attempting to do it on the cheap by not providing cover in depth.
    He thinks he has discovered a new way to run a football club, by using the retailers mantra, buy cheaper, younger and better.
    Thats why we are slip sliding down the league and believe it things will get worse.

  22. I noticed that neither of you two forgetful old codgers above mentioned Vuckic. He’s got to get some games soon.

    On the subject of Marveaux, I wrote months back that if his groin went again and required more surgery, that would be a very serious development and wouldn’t bode well for his future at all. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear that this will just keep coming back until he retires, especially bearing in mind the nature of his game.

    ps This may be a little belated, but I really think that Andy Mac deserves a round of applause for his excellent match preview and this match report too.

  23. Chuck @ 23

    Under no current circumstances can Marveaux be classed as ‘..heart and soul of the side..’ The lad has just arrived and is now injured. I would suggest that the heart and soul of the team are the players who have played nearly all the games this season. Also, it looks as if only Marveaux and Saylor are long term injuries. Best was actually on the bench on Saturday. Tiote is back in training and Colo’s injury doesn’t look serious.

    Supermac @ 24

    I think Guthrie will have attracted the attention of quite a few clubs with his excellent performances alongside Cabaye. I would say on the evidence of the last three games he has been better than Cabaye.

    Worky @ 26

    And what about Abeid? I have been more impressed with him than Vuckic. That’s not to say Vuckic is bad, it’s just that Abeid has that something extra.

  24. Team v Norwich:

    __________BA

    Guti______Cabaye______HBA

    _____Tiote_____Guthrie

    Raylor_Perch_Simpson_Santon

    ___________Krul

  25. Kamar says:

    December 5, 2011 at 7:51 am

    “Worky @ 26

    And what about Abeid?”

    And what anbout Shane Ferguson Kamar?

    So thats Haris Vuckic, Mehdi Abeid, Shane Ferguson…